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Hockey

Supporting cast helping Red Wings win games

Red Wings winger Drew Miller (20) celebrates his second period goal with teammates as Blackhawks players Johnny Oduya (27) and Michal Rozsival (32) reacts during Game 3 of their Western Conference semifinal series in Detroit on Monday, May 20, 2013. (Rebecca Cook/Reuters)

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The Detroit Red Wings are fully aware how quickly things can change in a series.

After Game 1 of their Western Conference semifinal against the Chicago Blackhawks, the Red Wings were all but written off, expected to be brushed aside in four or five games.

Now that they've stormed back to win the next two games of the series, the Red Wings aren't about to take anything for granted.

"They're a great team and it was good to come out on top (Monday)," said Red Wings winger Gustav Nyquist. "But it's still a tight series, there's still a long way to go. We have to get ready for the next game.

"It was a big game for us obviously, we're up 2-1 and we just need to win two more games to go through. But again, every game is going to be tight, every game is going to be hard-fought and there's going to be a lot of battles out there. We're just going to have to keep doing the same things we've been doing."

The Red Wings took the upper hand in the series with a hard-fought 3-1 win at the Joe Louis Arena on Monday.

It was the most even game of the series, decided by a pair of goals in the second period, 31 seconds apart.

It was also the fastest game of the three, as both teams went end to end in the contest trying to gain the upper hand.

"It was fast, it was probably the fastest game I've been a part of and I expect it to just get faster," said Red Wings goaltender Jimmy Howard, who turned away 39 shots in the win. "Thursday night they're going to step it up and come even harder. We're going to have to continue to play a great team game.

"I think both teams want to play that north-south game. It's only when they're in the offensive zones that they want to go east-west and try to open up lanes. Both teams are quick off the transition, they like to go right up with it as well as we do. I think that's how the play is so up and down."

Tuesday was a day off for both teams as the Blackhawks returned to Chicago and the Red Wings relaxed at home in preparation for Game 4.

Having been written off more than once already this season, the Red Wings have a chance to take a stranglehold with another encounter at home Thursday, before the scene shifts back to Chicago.

"I think as the year has gone on we've gotten better," said Red Wings head coach Mike Babcock following the win Monday. "You have to work hard enough and play hard enough, get some confidence in yourself and I think the group has done that.

"I've talked a lot about the fact that we're getting better even when we weren't winning on a regular basis, then we started to win."

According to Babcock, the key to the Red Wings success this year has been the development of their younger players and their third and fourth liners.

The Red Wings still have high-end talent, but it wasn't until the supporting cast got stronger that the Red Wings started winning on a more regular basis.

"We have really good leadership in (Henrik) Zetterberg, (Pavel) Datsyuk, (Niklas) Kronwall, (Dan) Cleary and those guys," said Babcock. "We also have a lot of kids that work hard and things are going in the right direction so far for us in this series.

"We've got to find a way to enjoy our day off, keep our mind right and get ready to practice and to play again."